Summary
Star Wars Outlawshas shown quite a bit of gameplay for not even having a concrete release date yet and only a wide release window of 2024. Many games have been announced before and afterOutlaws’ announcement and subsequent gameplay reveal that don’t have footage out, for example, whileOutlawswas already prepared to share over 10 minutes. It’s impossible to sayhowOutlaws’ development might progressbetween now and 2024, and yet the gameplay reveal makes Massive seem fairly confident in what it has in the oven right now.
One of the more significant portions ofOutlaws’ gameplay revealwas the fact that players will have narrative-altering decisions. These decisions may or may not necessitate multiple endings, but it will be interesting to see how actions can be caused or averted depending on which paths players take. Therefore, it’s probably a guarantee at the moment thatOutlawslets players be a scoundrel in the beginning whose experiences throughout the game give them a newfound plight and moral compass. However, because there are choices players can make, Massive can’t shy away from letting players become immoral smugglers whom the galaxy could grow to revere.
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Star Wars Has Leaned on the Good Guys for Too Long
Star Warshas tended to feature the light side of the Force in its protagonists exclusively, even when Anakin was a deuteragonist to Obi-Wan in the prequels.Star Warsitself is highly predicated on this balance of light and dark, good and bad, etc., and there hasn’t truly been a story thus far that similarly centered around the dark side. Even with the Force out of the immediate equation, genuinely antagonistic individuals hadn’t been portrayed with more ofa morally grey complexion untilAndor, which is perhaps why the series was so refreshing despite not having the traditional action spectacle fans have come to expect fromStar Wars.
Andor himself is an incredibly complicated character who still belongs outside any rigid box the IP could try to place him in whether he had joined the Resistance or not, and it’s that complexity thatOutlawsneeds to deem essential for Kay. If Kay is written purely to be a ‘good’ character, all questionable decisions notwithstanding, then it’ll feel like more of the same story that has been regurgitated now sinceStar Wars’ inception.
Star Wars Outlaws Shouldn’t Pull Its Punches with Players’ Nasty Choices
Instead, it would be fantastic if fans could play out all of theirGrand Theft AutoorRed Dead Redemptionfantasies inStar Wars’ settingwithOutlawsletting them swindle Sabacc opponents, hunt bounties, mistreat NPCs, or generally role-play however they’d like. Choices in the game seem to give players a binary option between different ways of handling a situation, but the reputation systemOutlawsfeatures could be wonderful if tied to narrative events where the player is pursued by authorities—specifically because they are legitimate ne’er-do-wells, and not because the Galactic Empire is cruel and pursues anybody.
It’s been baked into every fan’s brain that the Empire composes the ‘bad’ allegiance inStar Wars, and still players should be able to cause their own brand of potentially significant mayhem, even if their only goal is to steal credits to survive in a hostile world. If players are scripted to join the Resistance or lean too far toward a lighthearted moral compass, then there is no way that it will satisfy fans of the exciting premiseOutlawspromises to deliver.
Star Wars Outlawsreleases in 2024 for PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S.
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